Call-counter for telephones



(No Model.)

S. D. FIELD. CALL COUNTER FOR TELBPHONES. No. 558,168. Patented Apr. 14, 1896.

ANDREW lGIIAHAM.FHOTO-UYHD.WA5NINGTON.DYC

UNITED STATES A PATENT OEEIcE.

STEPIIEN D. FIELD, OF STOCKBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CALL-COUNTER FOR TELEPHONES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 558,168, dated April 14, 1896.

Application filed August 21, 1895. Serial No. 560,033. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern: registering wheels receiving motion through Be it known that I, STEPHEN D. FIELD, rea ratchet, and a pawl carried by the driven siding at Stockbridge, in the county of Berle mechanism adapted to engage the ratchet shire and State of Massachusetts, have inwhen moved through apredetermined range.

vented certain Improvements in Call-Count- In a particular practical and satisfactory 55 ers for Telephones, of which the following is form of the inventionaspring-retracted lever a specification. sustains the weight of the telephone. Motion My invention is a call-counter for teleis communicated to the driven mechanism phones, or a device for counting or registerfrom this lever through the medium of a bar 1o ing the number of times the telephone is used. or link which is brought into engagement with 60 It is designed to register only the use of the the lever by the movement of the shortcirtelephone which initiates connections, and cuiting switch of the signalinggenerator. that only when the desired connections are This link is returned to its normal position actually obtained. by a retractive spring, but is connected with The mechanism of my invention is adapted the retarded driven mechanism through a 65. to be actuated by the movement of the telepawl and ratchet, so that its instant return phone-switch lever upon the removal of the after the operation of the generator is pretelephone therefrom, but is constructed to vented. Motion is imparted from the link or register the use of the telephone only after bar to the train of counters by means of a the lapse of a predetermined time after such pawl actuated by the bar and a ratchet-wheel 7o removal of the telephone, and it is arranged in the train. This form of the invention is to be brought into action only by a manual shown in the drawings herewith. operation incident to the initiation of a con- In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view of the nection, The time during which the tele entire mechanism, the bar or link being conphone may be in use without causing the introlled by a push-button which normally strument to register may be made suliicient closes a short circuit about the generator. to permit a call to be made and the required Fig. 2 shows a device for controlling the same correspondent to be found, but insufficient part automatically. for conversationbetween the correspondents. Referring to Fig. 1, the apparatus of this 3o \Vhen so adjusted, the instrument will reginvention is shown mounted in the case of an ister only those uses of the telephone which ordinary magneto. The generator of this inhave been preceded by the required manual strument is not shown, but the driving-crank operation and in which the telephone has a is represented at the side of the box. In been in operation longer than the predeterpractice the generator may be placed at the 3 5 mined time required for the establishment of rear of the toll-counting mechanism. The connection with the line of the correspondpush 17, carrying the push-button b and actent. Consequently the use of a telephone at ing upon the switch-spring U is the ordinary a called substation does not bring about the device found in magnetos for opening the operation of the registering or counting deshort circuit about the generator during the 40 vice. I operation of the latter. The box is provided 0 Generally the invention comprises a drivalso with the usual telephone-switch and with ing-spring whose release is controlled by the its switch-spring. lever of the telephone-switch or other part of In applying my invention in connection the telephone apparatus whose position is alwith this apparatus a lever cl is provided, piv- 5 tered during the use of the telephone, a reoted at one extremity upon a bracket 01 and 9 5 tarded driven mechanism, and an intermedinormally retracted by a coiled spring 6. This ate member adapted to connect the drivinglever d is connected with the lever c of the spring with the driven mechanism when actutelephone-switch by means of a link d pivated by a push which must be moved in transoted to the switch-lever, passing through an 50 mitting a call-signal, a train of counting or opening in the lever cl and engaging the lever 10o by means of nuts d. This lever carries a stud d Above this stud hangs a lever or link f, pivoted at f upon a lever g, which is itself carried upon a pivot 9 suitably fixed in the frame. The lever or link f lies in the path of an extension of the push I), so that when the push is operated for the purpose of opening the short circuit about the generator the lever f is brought into line with the stud d on lever d. The free extremity of lever f is bifurcated or forked to insure its engagement with stud (1 One arm, of lever 9 forms the point of fixture of a retractive spring h, whose other extremity is connected with link f, the operation of the spring being to retain the link in contact with the push I) and out of the range of stud d. J ournaled on a standard coincident with the pivot g is a ratchet-wheel 1'- and a gear-wheel 7c. The ratchet-wheel is engaged by a pawl f which is carried 011 the extremity of the arm f projecting from the link f, and also by a dog g pivoted to the arm g of lever g. The gear-wheel 7c meshes with the pinion of escapem ent Z, of usual form, whose purpose is to retard the movement of the driven mechanism. Arm g carries also a weighted pawl g, which engages a ratchet wheel controlling the train of counting wheels. The ratchet-wheel itself may constitute one of these wheels, being geared to the wheel m and thence to Wheel 072 The ratchet-wheel m may have ten teeth and should be constructed in the usual manner to advance the wheel m through one division in one revolution of wheel m. The wheel on will thus indicate single impulses delivered to it to the number of ten, the wheel on will register tens of impulses to the number of one hundred, and the wheel m hundreds of impulses to the number of one thousand.

A light flat spring n engages the tooth of ratchet m to the rear of pawl g. This spring prevents the reverse movement of wheel on and also prevents the engagement of more than one tooth of the ratchet-wheel by pawl g in each oscillation of the lever g.

The apparatus is represented in the drawings in its normal or inert position. If while the mechanism is in this position the telephone is removed from its switch-hook for use in response to a call, the lever d will be released from the weight of the telephone and will move upward, drawn by the spring 0; but since the link f lies out of the path of stud b the counting mechanism will remain undisturbed. In the transmission of call-signals, however, the button Z) must be pushed in during the revolution of the crank a, for the purpose of permitting the signaling-current to flow to line. The forked extremity of link f is thus thrust into position to engage the to such an extent that in the ordinary process of obtaining connection the telephone must be removed from the switch-hook before the forked extremity of link f shall have passed out of the path of stud 01 Hence when the telephone is removed from its switch-hook the lever d, rising engages the link f and through it communicates a rotary movement to the lever 5 about the pivot 9 this movement also being retarded by the escapement Z. IVhen this movement has taken place to a sufficient extent, the pawl g passes over that tooth of ratchet-wheel m which is in engagement with spring at and rests upon the spring. The velocity of movement of the wheels should be so adjusted that suffioient time may elapse before the pawl g comes into engagement with a new tooth of the ratchet-wheel to permit the subscriber to obtain the required connection or to ascertain that the correspondent cannot be found. In practice this time may amount to one-half minute or less.

When after the completion of the conversation the telephone is replaced upon the switch-hook, the lever d is brought to its nor mal position and the lever g is freed from the impelling force of spring 6. Hence through its own weight and that of the parts connected therewith it falls into its normal position. During its return movement the pawl g" ongages the tooth of ratchet-wheel m, which registers with springn, and advances the ratchetwheel through the space of one tooth, thus registering one use of the telephone.

The operation of the mechanism is thus that described in a general way earlier in this specification.

The use of the telephone in response to a signal does not actuate the registering mech anism, but its use is registered only after the transmission of a call-signal, and then only when a predetermined time has elapsed between the transmission of the signal and the replacement of the telephone upon its switchhook, sufiicient time being allowed to permit the completion of the required connection.

In Fig. 2 is shown a device for permitting the actuation of link f by the usual mechanism for automatically opening the short circuit about the generator. In this automatic device, which is well known in the art, the crank a is carried upon a longitudinally-movable shaft a passing through a sleeve (0 which carries the driving-wheel a of the generator. The sleeve a is journaled in a suitable bearing a. In the extremity of sleeve a is a V-shaped slot or notch, which receives a pin a in the spindle C6 The rotation of crank a will result in a longitudinal movement of the shaft a this movement being limited by the space between sleeve (6 and the hub of the crank. Suitable switch-contacts are operated by this shaft in its movement. In adapting my invention to this automatic contrivance the link f may be prolonged into an arm f lying in the path of IOC spindle (0 Thus the inward movement of the spindle will rock the link f on its pivot f in the same manner that the pressure of the push-button Z) would act and will perform the same function.

It is possible to make numerous modifications of the mechanism of my device, such as will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Hence I do not desire to limit myself in the appended claims to the specific apparatus shown.

In another application of even date herewith, Serial No. 560,032, I have claimed, broadly, the described mechanism brought into operation by the sending of a signal with registering or recording mechanism generally, the present application relating more particularly to devices whereby a record is taken of the number of times the telephone is used, and to specific features of construction and combinations not disclosed in the application above referred to.

I claim as new 1. In a telephone-service register,the combination with recording mechanism and means for actuating the same set into operation by a movement of the telephone apparatus, an interposed link, normally in a non-operative position, for connecting said recording mechanism with its actuating means, and means for retarding the movement of said link from its operative to its inoperative or normal position, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a lever controlled by a telephone-switch of a retractive spring acting thereon, retarded driven mechanism and a train of counter-wheels actuated by the driven mechanism, a key controlling the circuit of a calling-generator, and link mechanism actuated by the key to connect the said lever with the said driven mechanism, as described.

3. The combination with a telephone-switch, of a lever moving therewith, and a retractive spring for the lever, a link normally out of engagement with the lever, a key controlling the circuit of the calling-generator adapted when moved to bring the said link into engagement with the lever, means for retarding the return movement of the link, and registering mechanism adapted to be impelled by the said retractive spring through the medium of the said link, as described.

4. The combination with a telephone-switch, of an associated lever, aretractive spring for the lever, a key controlling the circuit of the callinggenerator, a spring-retracted link adapted to be brought into engagement with said lever by the movement of the key, an escapement-controlled ratchet-wheel, a pawl carried by the link adapted to engage the ratchet-wheel in the return movement of the link, and registering mechanism adapted to be impelled by said retractive spring through the medium of the link, as described.

5. The combination with a lever whose position is changed during the use of the telephone, of registering mechanism, link mechanism controlled by the said lever adapted to impart motion to the registering mechanism at the end of a predetermined travel, and means for retarding the movement of the link mechanism, as described.

6. The combination with a telephone-switch lever of registering-wheels, link mechanism controlled by said lever adapted to impart motion to the registering-wheels at the end of a predetermined travel, a key controlling the signaling-circuit, adapted when moved to bring said link mechanism into operative relation to the said lever, and means for retarding the movement of the link mechanism, as described.

7. In combination, the lever controlled by the telephone-switch, the retractive spring acting thereon, counting-wheels and driving ratchet-wheel thereof, the lever carrying a pawl adapted to engage the ratchet-wheel, the link pivoted on the pawl-carrying lever, the key adapted to cause said link to engage the switch-controlled lever, and means for retarding the movement of the pawl-carrying lever, as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 17th day of August, 1895.

STEPHEN D. FIELD.

\Vitnesses:

WILLIAM B. CLARKE, J OHN OALLENDER. 

